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Wednesday, September 20, 2017

From Wikipedia"The Nakajima A6M2-N (Navy Type 2 Interceptor/Fighter-Bomber) was a single-crew floatplane based on the Mitsubishi A6M Zero Model 11. The Allied reporting name for the aircraft was Rufe. The A6M2-N floatplane was developed from the Mitsubishi A6M Zero Type 0, mainly to support amphibious operations and defend remote bases. It was based on the A6M-2 Model 11 fuselage, with a modified tail and added floats. A total of 327 were built, including the original prototype.

The aircraft was deployed in 1942, referred to as the "Suisen 2"
("Hydro fighter type 2"), and was only utilized in defensive actions in
the Aleutians and Solomon Islands operations. Such seaplanes were effective in harassing American PT boats
at night. They could also drop flares to illuminate the PTs which were
vulnerable to destroyer gunfire, and depended on cover of darkness.

A6M2-Ns at Attu, Alaska

The seaplane also served as an interceptor for protecting fueling depots in Balikpapan and Avon Bases (Dutch East Indies) and reinforced the Shumushu base (North Kuriles) in the same period. Such fighters served aboard seaplane carriers Kamikawa Maru in the Solomons and Kuriles areas and aboard Japanese raiders Hokoku Maru and Aikoku Maru in Indian Ocean raids. In the Aleutian Campaign this fighter engaged with RCAF Curtiss P-40, Lockheed P-38 Lightning fighters and Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress bombers.[citation needed]
The aircraft was used for interceptor, fighter-bomber, and short
reconnaissance support for amphibious landings, among other uses.Later in the conflict the Otsu Air Group utilized the A6M2-N as an interceptor alongside Kawanishi N1K1 Kyofu ("Rex") aircraft based in Biwa lake in the Honshū area.The last A6M2-N in military service was a single example recovered by
the French forces in Indochina after the end of World War II. It
crashed shortly after being overhauled.
The large float and wing pontoons of the A6M2-N degraded its
performance by only about 20%. However, this caused the A6M2-N to be
unable to confront the first generation of Allied fighters.[

Friday, September 15, 2017

Here are some images of Merit's 1/35 scale British HMS X-Craft submarine.

From Wikipedia"The X class was a World War IImidget submarine class built for the Royal Navy during 1943–44.Known individually as X-Craft, the vessels were designed to be
towed to their intended area of operations by a full-size 'mother'
submarine - (usually one of the T class or S class) - with a passage crew on board, the operational crew being transferred from the towing submarine to the X-Craft by dinghy
when the operational area was reached, the passage crew returning with
the dinghy to the towing submarine. Once the attack was over, the
X-Craft would rendezvous with the towing submarine and then be towed
home. Range was limited primarily by the endurance and determination of
their crews, but was thought to be up to 14 days in the craft or 1,500
miles (2,400 km) distance after suitable training. Actual range of the
X-Craft itself was 500 nmi (930 km) surfaced and 82 nmi (152 km) at 2
knots (3.7 km/h) submerged.

The craft was about 51 feet (15.5 m) long, 5.5 feet (1.68 m) in
maximum diameter and displaced 27 tons surfaced and 30 tons submerged.
Propulsion was by a 4-cylinder Gardner 4LK [1] 42 hpdiesel engine, converted from a type used in London buses, and a 30 hp electric motor, giving a maximum surface speed of 6.5 knots
(12 km/h), and a submerged speed of 5.5 knots (10.1 km/h). The crew
initially numbered three—commander, pilot and ERA (Engine Room
Artificer, i.e. engineer) but soon a specialist diver was added, for whom an airlock, known as a wet and dry
compartment, was provided. The ERA, usually a Navy Chief Petty Officer,
operated most of, and maintained all of, the machinery in the vessel.The weapons on the "X-Craft" were two side-cargoes - explosive charges held on opposite sides of the hull with two tons of amatol in each. The intention was to drop these on the sea bed underneath the target and then escape. The charges were detonated by a time fuse.
The craft were fitted with electro-magnets to evade detection by anti-submarine detectors on the sea bed.

A number of development craft were built before it was felt that a
feasible weapon had been produced. The first operational craft was X3 (or HM S/M X.3), launched on the night of 15 March 1942. Training with the craft began in September 1942, with X4
arriving in October. In December 1942 and January 1943 six of the
"5-10" class began to arrive, identical externally but with a completely
reworked interior.These operations were part of a longer series of frogman operations, see human torpedo.The operational base and training establishment was HMS Varbel at the former Kyles Hydro Hotel at Port Bannatyne on the Isle of Bute in the Inner Hebrides of Scotland. Their first deployment was Operation Source in September, 1943, an attempt to neutralise the heavy Germanwarships based in Northern Norway. Six X-Craft were used, but only 2 successfully laid charges (under the German battleship Tirpitz); the rest were lost, scuttled or returned to base. Tirpitz was badly damaged and out of action until April 1944.This was the only multiple X-craft attack. The lost craft were replaced early in 1944 with X20 to X25 and six training-only craft.On 15 April 1944 X24 attacked the Laksevågfloating dock at Bergen. X22 was intended for the mission, but had been accidentally rammed during training and sunk with all hands. X24 made the approach and escaped successfully, but the charges were placed under Bärenfels,
a 7,500 ton merchant-vessel along the dock, which was sunk; the dock
suffered only minor damage. On 11 September 1944, the operation was
repeated by X24, with a new crew; this time the dock was sunk.

The remains of an XT-class craft on the beach at Aberlady Bay
in 2008. The bow is to the left, the stern to the right. From left to
right can be seen the wet and dry chamber hatch, the "conning tower"
(the periscopes penetrated the hull through the "eye" shape) and the
secondary hatch.

Monday, September 11, 2017

From Wikipedia"The Lotus 49 was a Formula One racing car designed by Colin Chapman and Maurice Philippe for the 1967 F1 season. It was designed around the Cosworth DFV
engine that would power most of the Formula One grid through the 1970s.
It used its drivetrain as a stressed member, being not the first F1 car
to do so but the first to apply the technique so well that everyone
copied it.Jim Clark won on the car's debut in 1967, and it would also provide him with the last win of his career in 1968. Graham Hill went on to win that year's title and the car continued winning races until 1970.

After a difficult first year for Lotus
in the 3-litre formula, Chapman went back to the drawing board and came
up with a design that was both back to basics, and a leap ahead. Taking
inspiration from earlier designs, particularly the Lotus 43 and Lotus 38 Indycar, the 49 was the first F1 car to be powered by the Ford Cosworth DFV engine after Chapman convinced Ford to build an F1 power-plant.The 49 was an advanced design in Formula 1 because of its chassis
configuration. The specially-designed engine became a stress-bearing
structural member (seen earlier with the H16 engine in the Lotus 43 and BRM P83, but prior to that in the front-engined Lancia D50 of 1954),
bolted to the monocoque at one end and the suspension and gearbox at
the other. Since then virtually all Formula 1 cars have been built this
way.The 49 was a testbed for several new pieces of racecar technology and
presentation. Lotus was the first team to use aerofoil wings, which
appeared partway through 1968. Originally these wings were bolted
directly to the suspension and were supported by slender struts. The
wings were mounted several feet above the chassis of the car for
effective use in clean air, however after several breakages which led to
near fatal accidents, the high wings were banned and Lotus was forced
to mount the wings directly to the bodywork. n testing, Graham Hill
found the Lotus 49 easy to drive and responsive, but the power of the
Ford engine difficult to handle at first. The V8 would give sudden
bursts of power that Hill had reservations about. However, Jim Clark won its debut race at Zandvoort
with ease and took another 3 wins during the season, but early
unreliability with the DFV ended his championship hopes. It had teething
problems in its first race for Graham Hill, and it had spark plug trouble at the Belgian Grand Prix, held on the 8.76 mile (14.73 kilometer) Spa-Francorchamps. Jim Clark and Graham Hill fell victim to the reliability issues at the French Grand Prix, held at the Le MansBugatti Circuit (a smaller circuit using only part of the track used for the Le Mans 24 Hours), and lost to Jack Brabham. Jim Clark then ran out of fuel at Monza during the Italian Grand Prix.
Mechanical failures cost Lotus the championship that year, but it was
felt that 1968 would be a better year after Cosworth and Lotus perfected
their designs, which were clearly the way forward.

Clark won the first race of the 1968 season, the South African Grand Prix and the Tasman Series in Australia, but was killed in an F2 race at Hockenheim. Graham Hill
took over as team leader and won his second World Championship title,
after clinching three Grand Prix wins - including the fourth of his five
Monaco Grands Prix. Jo Siffert also drove a 49 owned by Rob Walker to win the British Grand Prix at Brands Hatch that year, the last time a car entered by a genuine privateer won a championship Formula 1 race. The 49 also took Jochen Rindt to his first victory in 1969 at Watkins Glen, New York, before he drove the type to its last win in the 1970Monaco Grand Prix.The 49 was intended to be replaced by the Lotus 63
midway through 1969, but when that car proved to be a failure, an
improved version of the 49, the 49C, was pressed into service until a
suitable car could be built. The 49 took 12 wins, contributed to 2 driver and constructors' world championships, before it was replaced by the Lotus 72 during 1970. The final appearances of the 49C were in 1971, with Wilson Fittipaldi finishing ninth in the 1971 Argentine Grand Prix, and Tony Trimmer finishing sixth in the Spring Cup at Oulton Park.Of the twelve 49s built only seven remain. Chassis R3 (driven by Graham Hill, then sold to privateer John Love) is the only example of the original 1967 cars still in existence, and is on display at the National Motor Museum in Hampshire.From its introduction in 1967 works Lotus 49s were painted in Lotus's traditional British racing green
with yellow centre-stripe. Over the following 16 months the design
gained increasing numbers of sponsor patches and large driver name
strips, while retaining the traditional base scheme. However, for the
1967-1968 Tasman Series races Team Lotus's 2.5 litre engined 49s were painted red, cream and gold — the colours of Gold Leaf
cigarettes — after Chapman signed a lucrative sponsorship deal. This
colour scheme was introduced for the 1968 World Championship at the
second race of the season, in Spain.Lotus 49s were also run by the privateer Rob Walker Racing Team, who painted their car in Walker's traditional dark blue with white nose band, and American Pete Lovely, whose car (chassis R11) was painted in the American national racing colours of white with a blue centre-stripe.

For the 1969 season,
Rindt signed for the 1968 World Constructors' Champion Lotus, where he
joined the defending Drivers' Champion Graham Hill. Rindt felt
uncomfortable with the move, owing to the notorious unreliability of the
Lotus car; in a twenty-month period between 1967 and 1969, the team was
involved in 31 accidents. Hill alone had nine crashes between 1968 and
1970, which led him to joke: "Every time I am being overtaken by my own
wheel, I know I am in a Lotus." When Rindt joined Lotus, his friend and de facto manager Bernie Ecclestone,
who had negotiated the deal, remarked that they were aware that Brabham
may have been a better choice of team but the speed of the Lotus gave
Rindt a chance to win the championship. Rindt commented: "At Lotus, I can either be world champion or die."
Because of his uncertainty about the wisdom of joining the team, Rindt
did not sign the Lotus contract until shortly before the 1969 Spanish Grand Prix.

Rindt's hesitancy appeared justified when both he and Hill suffered high speed crashes at the Spanish Grand Prix at Montjuïc.
In both instances, the suspension mounted wings on the cars broke off,
causing accidents that could have killed either driver. The effect of
the failure lifted Rindt's car off the track and into the barriers,
where it collided with the stationary car of Hill, whose accident
occurred at the same spot. Although Rindt only suffered a broken nose, one marshal lost an eye and another had his foot broken. Rindt was furious with Lotus's team owner, Colin Chapman,
over the failure; he told a reporter after the accident: "I place the
blame on him [Chapman] and rightfully so, because he should have
calculated that the wing would break." In an interview on Austrian
television a day later, he said: "These wings are insanity [ein Wahnsinn]
in my eyes and should not be allowed on racing cars. [...] But to get
any wisdom into Colin Chapman's head is impossible." Asked whether he
had lost trust in Lotus after the accident, he replied: "I never had any
trust in Lotus", going on to describe his relationship with the team as
"purely business". His accident left him sidelined for the Monaco Grand Prix, a race that Hill won.
Jackie Stewart later described Rindt's 1969 season as the year that he "came of age". At the end of the year, Motor Sport
magazine called him "[t]he only driver to challenge Stewart seriously
throughout the season", albeit placing only fourth in the championship.
The poor reliability of the Lotus 49B affected him; he retired from seven races. At the British Grand Prix,
Rindt fought a close battle with Stewart for the lead; both men were 90
seconds ahead of third-placed Jacky Ickx. The race was decided in
Stewart's favour only when Rindt had to enter the pits after part of his
car's bodywork started to rub on the tyre; he finished fourth. Rindt recorded his maiden Grand Prix win at the penultimate race of the season at Watkins Glen, winning $50,000—the largest monetary prize in Formula One history at the time.
His victory was overshadowed by a serious accident involving his
teammate Hill, who crashed after a high speed puncture and suffered
major leg injuries.

Monday, September 4, 2017

Here are some images of Kinetic Models 1/24 scale Republic P-47 D Thunderbolt Bubbletop
Quality wise I would have to say this kit compares to the old 1/24 scale Airfix kits of the 70's and 80's. Some fit problems but generally OK. The instructions however left a lot to be desired. Very basic with some needed information missing.
You may or may not have noticed that I installed lights. But due to the white backgrounds makes them difficult to see.

Refinements of the Thunderbolt continued, leading to the P-47D,
which was the most produced version with 12,558 built. The "D" model
actually consisted of a series of evolving production blocks, the last
of which were visibly different from the first.The first P-47Ds were actually the same as P-47Cs. Republic could not produce Thunderbolts fast enough at its Farmingdale plant on Long Island, so a new plant was built at Evansville, Indiana.
The Evansville plant first built a total of 110 P-47D-1-RAs, which were
completely identical to P-47C-2s. Farmingdale aircraft were identified
by the -RE suffix after the block number, while Evansville aircraft were given the -RA suffix.The P-47D-1 through P-47D-6, the P-47D-10, and the P-47D-11
successively incorporated changes such as the addition of more engine
cooling flaps around the back of the cowl to reduce the engine
overheating problems that had been seen in the field. Engines and engine
subsystems saw refinement, (the P-47D-10 introduced the R-2800-63,
replacing the R-2800-21 seen in previous P-47s) as did the fuel, oil and
hydraulic systems. Additional armor protection was also added for the pilot.The P-47D-15 was produced in response to requests by combat units for
increased range. "Wet" (equipped with fuel plumbing) underwing pylons
were introduced to allow a bomb or drop tank
pressurized by vented exhaust air to be carried under each wing, in
addition to the belly tank. Seven different auxiliary tanks were fitted
to the Thunderbolt during its career:

200 U.S. gallon (758 l) ferry tank: A conformal
tub-shaped jettisonable tank made of paper, which barely cleared the
ground on grass airfields, was used as an interim measure between 30
July and 31 August 1943.

75 U.S. gallon(284 l) drop tank: A standardized, all-metal
teardrop-shaped steel tank with a prominent protruding horizontal seam
initially produced for the P-39 Airacobra,
was adapted to the P-47 beginning 31 August 1943. It was initially
carried on the belly shackle, but was used in pairs in 1944 as underwing
tanks, and adopted as a standard accessory in the US inventory.

108 U.S. gallon (409 l) drop tank: A cylindrical paper tank of
British design and manufacture, used as a belly tank beginning in
September 1943 and a wing tank in April 1944.

150 U.S. gallon (568 l) drop tank: A steel tank first used as a belly tank 20 February 1944, and an underwing tank 22 May 1944.

215 U.S. gallon (810 l) drop tank: A wide, flat steel tank developed by VIII Service Command was first used in February 1945.

165 U.S. gallon (625 l) drop tank: This tank, produced by Lockheed,
could be used either as a fuel tank or as a napalm container.

110 U.S. gallon (416 l) drop tank: This tank was similar in shape to
the 75 gallon drop tank, but was larger. It could also be used as a
napalm container.

The tanks made of plastic-impregnated (laminated) paper could not
store fuel for an extended period of time, but they worked quite well
for the time it took to fly a single mission. These tanks were cheaper,
lighter, and were useless to the enemy if recovered after being
dropped—not only did they break apart, but they did not provide the
enemy with any reusable materials that could be scavenged for their own
war effort. With the increased fuel capacity, the P-47 was now able to
perform escort missions deep into enemy territory. A drawback to their
use was that fighters could not land with the tanks in place because of
the hazard of rupture and explosion. Fighters recalled from a mission or
that did not jettison their paper tanks for some reason were required
to drop them into a designated "dump" area at their respective fields,
resulting in substantial losses of aviation fuel.The P-47D-16, D-20, D-22 and D-23 were similar to the P-47D-15 with
minor improvements in the fuel system, engine subsystems, (the P-47D-20
introduced the R-2800-59 engine) a jettisonable canopy, and a bulletproofwindshield.
Beginning with the block 22 aircraft, the original narrow-chorded
Curtiss propeller was replaced by propellers with larger blades, the
Evansville plant switching to a new Curtiss propeller with a diameter of
13 ft (3.96 m) and the Long Island plant using a Hamilton Standard
propeller with a diameter of 13 ft 2 in (4.01 m). With the bigger
propellers having barely 6 in (152 mm) of ground clearance, Thunderbolt
pilots had to learn to be careful on takeoffs to keep the tail down
until they obtained adequate ground clearance, and on landings to flare
the aircraft properly. Failure to do so damaged both the propeller and
the runway. A modification to the main gear legs was installed to extend
the legs via an electric motor (un-extending before retraction) to
accommodate the larger propeller diameter.Even with two Republic plants rolling out the P-47, the U.S. Army Air
Forces still were not getting as many Thunderbolts as they wanted.
Consequently, an arrangement was made with Curtiss to build the aircraft under license in a plant in Buffalo, New York.
The Curtiss plant experienced serious problems and delays in producing
Thunderbolts, and the 354 Curtiss-built fighters were relegated to
stateside advanced flight training. The Curtiss aircraft were all designated P-47G,
and a "-CU" suffix was used to distinguish them from other production.
The first P-47G was completely identical to the P-47C, the P-47G-1 was
identical to the P-47C-1, while the following P-47G-5, P-47G-10, and
P-47G-15 sub-variants were comparable to the P-47D-1, P-47D-5 and
P-47D-10 respectively. Two P-47G-15s were built with the cockpit
extended forward to just before the leading edge of the wing to provide
tandem seating, designated TP-47G, essentially to provide a
trainer variant. The second crew position was accommodated by
substituting a much smaller main fuel tank. The "Doublebolt" did not go
into production but similar modifications were made in the field to
older P-47s, which were then used as squadron "hacks" (miscellaneous
utility aircraft).All the P-47s produced to this point had a "razorback" canopy
configuration with a tall fuselage spine behind the pilot, which
resulted in poor visibility to the rear. The British also had this
problem with their fighter aircraft, and had devised the bulged "Malcolm hood" canopy for the Spitfire as an initial solution. This type of canopy was fitted in the field to many North American P-51 Mustangs, and to a handful of P-47Ds. However, the British then came up with a much better solution, devising an all-round vision "bubble canopy" for the Hawker Typhoon.
USAAF officials liked the bubble canopy, and quickly adapted it to
American fighters, including the P-51 and the Thunderbolt. The first
P-47 with a bubble canopy was a modified P-47D-5 completed in the summer
of 1943 and redesignated XP-47K. Another older P-47D was modified to provide an internal fuel capacity of 370 U.S. gal (1,402 l) and given the designation XP-47L.
The bubble canopy and increased fuel capacity were then rolled into
production together, resulting in the block 25 P-47D (rather than a new
variant designation). First deliveries of the P-47D-25 to combat groups
began in May 1944.It was followed by similar bubble-top variants, including the
P-47D-26, D-27, D-28 and D-30. Improvements added in this series
included engine refinements and the addition of dive recovery flaps.
Cutting down the rear fuselage to accommodate the bubble canopy produced
yaw
instability, and the P-47D-40 introduced a vertical stabilizer
extension in the form of a fin running from the vertical stabilizer to
just behind the radio aerial. The fin fillet was often retrofitted in
the field to earlier P-47D bubble-top variants. The P-47D-40 also
featured provisions for 10 "zero length" launchers for 5 in (127 mm) High velocity aircraft rockets (HVARs), as well as the new K-14 computing gunsight. This was a license-built copy of the British Ferranti GGS Mark IID computing gyroscopic sight
which allowed the pilot to dial in target wingspan and range, and would
then move the gunsight reticle to compensate for the required
deflection.The bubbletop P-47s were nicknamed "Superbolts" by combat pilots in the field.

Friday, September 1, 2017

French fortress mortar - 1680
This nice model of a french fortress
mortar was recostructed from original plans. The barrel, large caliber,
squat & short range, could fire explosive balls, loaded with stones,
nails & scrap - iron.

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

This Small Cannon was influential in the defence of the eastern coasts
of the USA for more than thirty. Easy to handle, this cannon was ideal
for gunnery training and could fire a high volume of explosive balls.

Thursday, August 24, 2017

Here are some images of Pocher's 1/20 scale Chinese Cannon Of The Forts Of Shan-Hai-Kuan.
One would think that when Pocher produced this kit that they would have supplied some historical information on the subject at hand but alas no.
Web searches on this subject were so far unsuccessful.